125 S.W.2d 617 | Tex. App. | 1939
A review is here sought of a fee allowance by a Dallas County District Court to appellee as receiver, growing out of proceedings wherein the one-sixteenth undivided interest of appellant in the Lide-Tayloe 40-acre oil and gas lease, Rusk County, was involved. The original suit was filed by Lide-Tayloe Oil Company, Inc., owner of an undivided one-half interest in said lease, under allegations generally that it was operating the leasehold (on which were oil wells flowing and in process of completion) and that C. M. Joiner, trustee, his divorced wife, and Dave M. Lide were asserting a claim to the one-sixteenth interest, but that none of said claimants were paying their pro rata share of the operating or development cost; asking for the appointment of a receiver so that the oil accruing to such interest could be sold, the proceeds collected, and all operating costs due by this fractional interest be currently paid, pending legal adjudication or title. C. M. Joiner had owned an undivided one-eighth working interest in the lease and had sold and contracted to deliver the same to Dave M. Lide (who was acting for and on behalf of appellant) when litigation between Mr. Joiner and his former wife intervened to prevent consummation of said sale; Mrs. Joiner asserting ownership in one-half of the interest or this one-sixteenth part — the subject matter of this suit. Appellee was accordingly appointed receiver of the property just mentioned on September 7, 1935, and duly qualified with the following powers and duties set forth in his order of appointment: "Said receiver is hereby authorized to sell all the oil run to the credit of said interest now in the hands of or sold to Atlas Pipe Line Company, of Shreveport, Louisiana, to execute division orders therefor, and to take such steps as may be necessary to establish his title and his right to collect the proceeds of said oil. He is further authorized to collect the proceeds of said oil and to deposit the same in the First National Bank in Dallas, of Dallas, Texas, the same to be checked out upon his signature, countersigned by the Judge of this Honorable Court. He is further authorized to pay such claims as may be presented to and approved by him and by this Honorable Court, and he is further *618 authorized to pay all current operating expenses properly chargeable against said interest. He is instructed to keep proper records and accounts of all funds received by him, and disbursed by him, and to hold all funds received by him in excess of necessary expenditures on deposit in said bank awaiting final determination of the title to said interest in said lease."
An operating company (Lide-Tayloe, Inc.) being in charge of the entire leasehold during the receivership period, supervising the production, additional development, etc., it is obvious that appellee's principal service related to the sale of oil and collection of proceeds thereof running to the credit of the interest involved; paying current expenses of operation properly chargeable to the same, giving prompt attention to tax items; making annual reports to the court of receipts and disbursements, accounting properly therefor; executing all necessary instruments and contracts as to further drilling and paying pro rata cost; and rendering true, complete and detailed account of the matters so handled under his initial authority. The necessity for the court proceedings terminated with the final decision of the Supreme Court in Joiner v. Joiner,
On the other hand appellee points out that in receivership matters, specific court orders are necessary before disbursement by a receiver of trust funds, citing 36 Tex.Jur. Receivers, Secs. 125, 128, pp. 247, 250; 53 C.J. Sec. 197, p. 157; 23 R.C.L. Sec. 82, p. 76; Alderson on Receivers, Sec. 221, p. 268. These authorities also hold, however, that even without express court direction, a receiver may incur any expense absolutely essential to the preservation and use of the property. Here the language of the court's order of appointment fully warranted appellee in paying the operating expenses chargeable to the one-sixteenth interest involved (running from $25 to $35 per month) without further specific orders of approval save in his annual and final reports. The requirement that Judge McCallum should countersign all checks practically relieved the receiver of major responsibility in accounting for his trust, though the scrupulous methods employed by Mr. Howe are generally to be commended. However, a regular notice to all interested parties of these current items of *619
expense before they were approved by the receiver and paid under the court's counter signature, would have sufficiently disposed of these matters in the interest of time and official exertion. And we do not think the fact that shortly after appellee qualified, the oil interest in question was adjudicated the property of Mrs. Joiner (Joiner v. Joiner, Tex. Civ. App.